Increase in upper respiratory tract infections after the Covid-19 pandemic‘

Abstract

This cross-sectional study evaluated the number of patients with a diagnosis of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and with antibiotic prescriptions from the Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA) between January 2019 and December 2022. The number of patients with UTRI diagnoses and antibiotic prescriptions per practice and the duration of sick leave per patient were compared over time. A total of 1,403,907 patients from general practices (GP) were included, 48% of whom were female. The number of URTI patients per practice was significantly higher in 2022 than in 2019 (732 vs. 464, 58%, p<0.001) and this was observed for both women (56%, p<0.001) and men (60%, p<0.001). The post-pandemic increase in the number of URTI diagnoses correlated with age and was highest in the age group between 18–30 years (22%, p<0.001) and lowest in older patients >70 years (3%). Both the number of patients per practice on sick leave due to URTI (184 vs. 92) and the average duration of sick leave (+2 days) increased from 2019 to 2022. Our data suggest a dramatic increase in the incidence of URTI among all demographic subgroups in Germany between 2019 and 2022, which was associated with a tremendous impact on socioeconomic variables such as the frequency or duration of sick leave. These data could be of great importance in current pandemic management and the management of future pandemics.